tonight craig ♪ [meow] [laughter] [applause] craig: that alien was kind of freaky-looking. that alien kitten. if there's one thing i demand of this show is pleasing imagery. [laughter] craig: press company accepted of course. i, no i was very fascinated about dr. oz talking about the bottom investigation. by the way, bottom investigation is the name of a movie i've just thought up. i think if you're -- if you're thinking about putting a camera into a quiet place -- [laughter] craig: then you probably should but try not use one of the cbs

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evacuations. >> i thought i did that. >> sorry we can't hear in the back. >> okay. >> we have confirmed 53 structures have been severely damaged, 120 more have fire damage, we know we have evacuated at least 100 people into the shelters. >> severely damaged? >> i don't have eyewitness account of that. i haven't been down to the bottom of the hill [ voices in the background ] >> that is part of the crestmore canyon on the east side of the explosion. >> what would you say? >> our estimate is 10-acres in the canyon which we have contained right now. >> we expected to do so, winds

will hopefully stay laid down and the moisture in the air will be advantage to us. >> have you ever seen anything like this before? >> no, and i don't want to again. >> the fire chief is explaining really a laundry list of what has gone on this afternoon including destruction of 53, 120 more damaged. >> we have continuing coverage, this evening a massive explosion in san bruno that set off a destructive and deadly fire. there are 3 confirmed dead in this disaster. >> two others have -- well, three total right now. tonight california office of emergency services says 53 homes completely destroyed, 120

as we mentioned damaged. less than an hour ago pg and e confirmed a gas line ruptured where the blast occurred they would take accountability if found to be responsible but caution the cause of the blast has yet to be determined. >> neighbors in the area tell cbs 5, that they have been smelling gas for several days now. this is -- this all began as i mentioned around 6:15 p.m. tonight. the first explosion was reported near skyline boulevard and san bruno avenue. witnesses in the area say several blasts then followed. at least 27 people have been taken to bay area hospitals, but that number of injuries is of course expected to rise. okay so the fire is inside a very specific area of san bruno. general per rimester, looping around claire mount drive and glen view drive. we heard the fire chief there

say the rupture was at the bottom of glen view we have seen it spread out as far as vermont way. >> joe vazquez joins us now as he has all evening from that devastated neighbourhood. an update? >> we are on a ridge overlooking the neighbourhood, neighbourhood folks out here refer to simply as the valley. flames are still shooting up here, subsided quite a bit, since the last five hours but still we are seeing a huge amount of activity, fire trucking running through, pg&e. a lot of neighborliterally in the dark because they are without power right now as they have been for the last five hours. as you get closer to the epi center and closer to where the explosion happened you hear the story, houses on fire people having to escape. one man we talked to said that his father had to race out of the house. he is talking about -- this man told us his childhood home went down in flames. there is nothing left of his

his father barely escaped. >> my dad had to open up the garage door and drive the car through the flames to get out. the back of the car is melted, i mean the taillights are slunken in and bumper is all warped up but number one thing he is okay. everything else can be replaced. >> reporter: he barely made it. >> barely made it. >> the car and the clothes on his back. you always thing it can never happen to you but it happens. >> those are the stories we want to hear. we are also hearing stories late tonight that now that you know they are able to contain the fire to some degree and the smoke has cleared to some degree and the heat subsided and they have been able to secure power lines, firefighter are going door to door and only within the last hour or so we learned of fatalities, three so far and still not able to get through some of those homes closer to the epi center. i want to show you tape here,

two men they don't know each other they are from different parts of the area. one lives right here nearby and he heard the explosion and ran down and shot some video another man a freelance photographer. take a listen. >> i was working in my garage all of a sudden -- we are used to the airplanes. it sounded like a low rumble, my radio went dead and all of a sudden, it was a boom boom it shook the house, the glass shook i ran out the side of my garage and looked to my backyard i could see the flames. i really thought it was two houses behind me i grabbed my video camera, took off running as soon as i got to green wood, i could see right here the flames may be 200 feet on top of that. >> oh, my god it looked like a bomb had actually hit the ground. two or three blocks completely engulfed in flames. i had never seen anything like this in my entire life truly amazing. >> how close did you get? what did you feel? >> i got within 100-yards,

maybe a little more. what i thought was intense heat. the house that i was standing next to, literally the paint was melting and bubbling on the wall as i stood there and i would have to back out and every few minutes or so a big fireball would jump up literally over 100 feet off the ground and it would just blow your back with all the smell and sound was like thunder at times. >> reporter: now the first gentleman we heard there, was tim and he join us us live. we wanted to bring you back because you not only experienced what you saw there but you told me you have been smelling the scent of gas out here for some time. >> correct. a good three weeks now. just around last week, week and a half pg&e was in my neighbourhood telling me to shut my garage, they were investigating the gas smell later they took off and this was it down the street at the next stop sign for the last

three weeks i have been smelling an odour of gas from the sewer. >> given that is the case and given we know this was a gas line what is going through your mind tonight? >> what the hell pg&e is thinking of not correcting the problem. these poor innocent people their houses people just trying to be a family get off of work, hard work day and this is what happens. chaos. >> thank you again for joining us. we did want the bring you that because tim is not the only one we talked to several poem out here who said they have smelled gas. the fire department at the news conference said that is news to them. pg&e has not commented to us yet. they are still working on getting power back together here. we do not know if that is the connection yet but simply dana, a very strong statement being made by neighbors tonight. >> it certainly is and will be something investigated over the next few days. just to reiterate though, pg&e four hours after the explosion

did take responsibility and acknowledged accountability for this explosion and we will be hearing more about that in the coming days. >> yeah, we want to give you a sense of what it was like initially when this thing went off. we first are going to show you video shot by professional videographer who was at the scene within minutes. you can see shards of almost concrete exploded there on the ground. water coming down from a snorkel truck and just devastation gives you an idea how intense this flame was when that pipe ruptured and the explosion occurred. that is right on the corner of i believe claire mount and vermont right there. >> well, one of the eyewitnesses said what he experienced was when it blew, it blew the asphalt up into the air and so that is what you are also seeing fly around and it did then ignite these homes that were farther away from the

explosion site. we've had many accounts of how this occurred and surprisingly, people who were -- who could very calmly explain what they experienced, what they saw, what they smelled and the danger that they felt, but it was so hot, we talked to san bruno fire chief hague early in the evening and there was nothing that the fire department could do in terms of moving in towards these flames, until the source of that gas explosion could be shut off, and it took well into the evening until 8:00 a.m. until pg&e was able to get in there and shut it down. so the firefighters basically could work the perimeter and try to put out the flamethe houses that were ignited by the initial explosion. >> appears the rupture occurred in an easement behind some homes, utility companies use

these easements, water mains were damaged, a lot of these go into the same trough when homes are built and areas occupied they run utilities across an'sment. here is home video shot and sent to us, this is really early on in the fire you can see the initial blast and how much force -- how -- that gas under pressure was coming out, the volatility of it. we could hear it was a roar like almost like a jet in fact some people thought an aircraft had crashed because of that jet explosion type sound, the shaking that they experienced, and the amount of fire that was coming off of there there was speculation aviation fuel was burning we didn't know at this point what was going on. >> no, but what we could see because we had chopper 5 in the air the source of this fire was being fed continuously of fuel and the shape and intensity of

the fire, it started out large and it stayed large it didn't really expand because it was constantly being fed this fuel. interesting you mention that many of the neighbors in the area that contacted us thought it was a plane, because this area is very close to san francisco international, they are in the flight path of planes and that i would think is always in the back of their minds, that that is the worst that can happen in that neighbourhood. >> you go with your senses it was a big boom we heard something sounded like a jet, shook the house and then we heard the explosion and yeah, i mean that is the assumption, rightly so you go with your senses on that. subsequently we found out this was a high pressure gas line that exploded. some how ruptured some how ignited we are not sure of the cause of it just yet that will be part of the investigation. >> once things got to a certain

point, the concern immediately turned to the people in those homes. this happened during the dinner hour, there was a football game on and the concern was that there were people trapped in their homes. we have had reports of fatalities now, one fatality is confirmed by the coroner in san mateo county and two other reports of fatalities from another area but there are also injuries. hospitals set up industry i can't imagine and triage and many people were sent to the hospitals. sherry is at st. francis where several burn victims were taken. are you with us? >> reporter: yes, i am dana. four victims three are in critical condition. one of them in stable condition tonight and at least for now st. francis is not expecting to see any more patients arrive here for this evening. because this is a certified

burn center, the most serious cases come here the patients brought here by ambulance tonight do all have significant burns according to a spokeswoman, patients don't come here directly from the scene they typically go to the closest hospital first and then once their breathing is table they are transferred here. st. francis has a full staff onboard tonight some doctors even came in without being called on their way home heard it on the radio saw it on television and just drove over here on their own and ready to go to work. there is still room for more patients if the space is needed, hospital spokeswoman. >> we've not received any indication that we will be overwhelmed at this point, we are very adequately staffed we were able to move stabilize burn patients out of our burn unit to prepare to see critical patients. our burn surgeons are on stand by the whole team is ready to go we have an excellent team of

nurses all here ready to accept the patients. [ voice in the background ] >> reporter: the area one in santa clara county and davis, all coordinating throughout the evening to make sure not one center is overwhelmed. just to recap, st. francis in san francisco, four patients have been brought here three are in critical condition tonight and the fourth one is stable. >> all right. sherry thank you very much. >> we have numbers from some other hospitals in the area too. earlier numbers. >> that's right earlier in the evening we haven't updated them but i will give them to you, kaiser hospital, 15 burn victims sent there, and we expected that many would be then transferred to other hospitals. they may very well have gone on to st. francis. san francisco general had two victims considered critical condition, two burn victims, seaton medical center was the hospital that was the center of

the triaging and because it was the closest to the explosion site. and then the victims went out from there. so in total, i believe the number is 27 that we have right now of burn victims, and they have been dispursed then to different hospitals. >> some of their conditions we just don't know the hospitals are working hard to try to get some of that. more information for you coming now. kit is i believe out at one of the shelters set up tonight. what have you got? >> reporter: actually this is now likely the designated registration center, that they are telling everyone who is an e vac wee to come here and check in, and let everyone know you are okay. so some of the numbers are starting to trickle in. we are hearing the unofficial count of evacuees here is 18 to 20. you can see the entrance is just over there. a lot of these people here in front are here to donate goods, so not everyone here that you see right now is an e vac wee

but looks like word is starting to get out a little bit we did see one woman wrapped up in a blanket arrive here they are certainly not in the mood to talk right now as their life has pretty much been turned upside down they are going in to register and sort of get into the system, we did manage to speak with one husband and wife who did come here earlier tonight. are you scared in are you scared? worried? >> no, well, scared at first. yes. we were very scared but any way after we saw what was going on we had left the house before. we drove away because we didn't know what was going on we just drove out of the area and then returned. >> reporter: do you thing your house will survive? >> yes. i think we are further away but cautious. the sheriff called and asked us to evacuate. >> reporter: and all evening long we have seen people

dropping off blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, pet food, coats, you name it. and in fact, if you can come back to a live picture, this is donations from costco they have made two or three runs tonight and every time they show up, hordes, armies of people just come and bring bottled water and toilet paper and whatever, this is quite an amazing sight to see. as i mentioned before this is a physical manifestation of the kindness and generosity of san bruno. >> great to see. what we expect from the bay area when someone is down and out everybody rallies that is what we are getting these people are just coming off the street a lot of them you saw the guy carrying sleeping bags, bottled water what can i do how can i help there are a lot of things people can do. >> a very important thing you can do if you would like to help they are in need of blood. blood centers are asking for

type o negative. you can't give blood this evening, but starting tomorrow morning they will be taking any and all comers. you can call them at 1-888-393- give or go to their website which i understand is inundated i mean, if that is your preference if you have the patience, blood centers.org. but you don't have to be type o negative, they will take any blood because this -- the problem is, the victims who are going to need surgery and constant care will need blood for some time. it is not just a problem we can solve tomorrow or the next day, giving blood is a constant need. >> good point. blood centers of the pacific also we might note, they basically distribute blood and whole blood and move blood around for 40 different medical centers and hospitals around northern california. so they are the ones you want

to get in contact with and they will say yeah, come on in. this is where we want you to go or i have a feeling it won't be hard to find a place to donate blood and as dana says, something even if your type isn't exactly what they want they can exchange that with other centers even out of state they can fly it back and forth if they have more of what we need or they need they can change it back and forth and for the folks hurting tonight, the injured, that will be critical for them. we have a police officer in the bay area just recently who was shot and wounded, severely and who required over 100 points of blood for his surgeries and thank goodness that was there for him but that has to be replenished so there is a desperate call for folks to donate blood. >> we want to continue to set the scene for you as it has gone on this evening around 6:15 p.m. we will go back to lynn ramirez now with an update. >> reporter: well, difficult

seif situation here bay hill shopping center this is where a lot of people are gathering. they have been told to assemble here by the sheriff's department early on when the fire was raging it is a place people are trying to reconnect with missing family members. we spoke with a woman who came down from sonoma county she has her mother and uncle missing at this point very touching story here is what she had to say earlier. >> your family. >> yeah, my family lives on the corner of, um, crestmore and claire mount and their names are lavonne, greg and william he is 16 my grandmother and 80 and my uncle 50 if anyone has information please contact channel 5. this is a stressful situation as i am sure it is for many families. as often happens in disasters this big, there is the individual stories that really come out and this is one

of them hopefully some body has seen the missing people here that she mentioned just a few minutes ago and we will be able to reconnect but she said their family members live on one of those corners where it was very hot, close to the fire, and as she fears the worst at this point she doesn't know there is a lot of people like that right now here at this shopping center walking around hoping to find some body who might have seen their relative or registering in and putting their name in. hopefully they will get matched up later. but i got to tell you in a disaster like this there will be a lot of missing people hopefully it turns out well in the case we have profiled. back to you. >> thank you. we have just talked to kit at the registration center, not that many people are registering right now the city of san bruno would like anyone who experienced a loss of this magnitude to come, if you live in this area.

to come to the registration center and sign in so that people can find you right now the fire chief says they have no idea how many people are unaccounted for. the sooner they can get people registered, the quicker people will be able to reconnect. >> a lot of people were evacuated. they want people to come down i live at this house, three people, we all got out take us off the list. >> exactly. >> ones they don't hear about they will start looking tomorrow. >> we will go to joe vazquez who has video of the scene. joe. >> reporter: dana, we asked the photographer done ford to get as close as he could as we learned an hour ago firefighters were going door to door and checking seen the homes. done you had to hike -- don you had to hike through the epi center what did you see? >> an imcredible scene.

down to the crater there is a valley and then a gorge in the valley a crater that is 40 or 50 feet in diameter, 15 feet deep i am told completely filled with water because of all the fire fighting activities, the shock waves just rattled up the sides of this valley, sheering off trees and everything and it was in hundreds and hundreds of yards just flattened like really does look like something out of a bomb. >> so that is the epi center. >> that is the epi center >> it goes in every direction. >> every direction the shock wave the heat wave just radiated out and scorched and destroyed everything in its path hundreds and hundreds of yards in all directions. tomorrow morning when the sun comes up it will be a scene like something out of -- >> as you were down there you felt the heat and heard the gas still leaking. >> the main gas pipeline appears to be secured right now but throughout the neighbourhood all the houses each one of them still has

their gas on. their municipal gas those are blowing like blow torches some are really loud like jet engines. the tape i shot earlier will show they are not putting those out you don't want the gas i am told to escape out. they are letting that burn out of the pipe but they are trying to get hold of that natural gas in what is left of the houses. foundation after foundation, chimney after chimney burned out wrecks of cars. i haven't seen scenes like this unless in the forest fires it is shocking in an urban sent tore see complete devastation for blocks and blocks. >> firefighters are going door to door and finding bodies we reported three bodies you have seen a couple they are not transporting them out. >> no, they have been respectfully covered over with fire shelterkeeping a respectful distance they have identified spots where some people did die.

there were some fatalities, but they are not transporting or moving any of those people out tonight they will probably wait until the morning. it is pretty dark, chaotic situation, power lines are all down, there is glass and dirt in the street. close to the epi center where this main ruptured, the energy was so intense that the street has been reduced the nothing but a dirt path now. it is still wide but nothing at all left of the out fall. >> melted off. >> melted burned off straight down to the dirt. so the sidewalks, the 3-inch thick concrete some times 3 or 4 feet wide is buckled up and just debris the heat, intensity of that was something i haven't seen in a long time and i have been shooting news for a very long time. >> you are protected to some degree but i mean is it still dangerous? are firefighters wearing extra protective gear? >> they come very prepared any way. so yeah, it is still very

dangerous down in there, still a lot of heat. they are chasing down spot fires, letting the gas burn out but there are wiredebris everywhere. >> just to be clear, you see this huge crater. >> huge crater. >> and it obviously is the homes that are closest to those craters, is it on one end of a block or a middle of a block? >> no, it is in the middle of a gorge. there is a valley and a gorge. down in that gorge is where the initial pipeline erupted and exploded, and that is where -- but it is such an intense, such a big explosion, so large, it blew everything out even though on the sides of this and into the neighbourhood. >> and the gorge is apart from the neighbourhood. >> it is apart from the neighbourhood. there is a street way on the other side, comes down and dips in there, and now, you wouldn't even recognize, it is a giant

huge crater something you would see in iraq or afghanistan. >> no residents they have evacuated the area. >> no body in there except for a huge amount of firefighters, a large amount of equipment s also law enforcement is in there too. other than that, there is no body else in there except a small sprinkling of some photographers with boarders. he risked his life to bring us those pictures no doubt. i can tell you we are on a ridge overlooking that valley right now, dozens of residents you can see them just bracing for every smud john of news that comes out and especially in the last hour where we are hearing about fatalities they are still going door to door they haven't gotten every house. >> interesting to see that video of the crater filled with water you can still see something bubbling up in there, and of course all these homes

with gas mains that are still spewing, they are letting stay open so that they relieve the pressure off of any big gas mains but it will be interesting to see how they shut that down. >> don's photography was fantastic. if you look over the shoulder of those firefighters across the way, that is a street sign. it tells you what block you are on. there is no street left. the street is completely obliterated like a bomb went off leaving a huge crater now filled with water because of all the water rushing down what is left of the concrete and filling up the hole but that used to be a street. if you were standing any where in that vicinity you would be completely annihilated. you have to wonder what happened at that spot. tremendous blast. that is why people blocks and blocks away, felt that rumbling

and heard that explosion. this thing was just completely off the charts as far as the violence that was let loose at that moment of impact there, just amazing. i mean now you have debris strewn all over the place and there will be somethings that will happen tomorrow. school closures in fact. alan martin has a list of that information alan. >> reporter: a couple things here, first we should point out shortly after 10:00 p.m. tonight, pg&e issued an e-mail and took responsibility for the gas line itself saying that the ruptured gas line was theirs now. who is responsible for the explosion, how did the gas line

. a few minutes ago, we had the first official briefing from city leaders from san bruno, let's first hear from the city manager. >> the city organization is fully mobilized to assist residents. our primary concern at this point is identifying and locating all of the residents of the effected area. >> also at that briefing was the san bruno fire chief dennis hague. he is saying it was 6:15 tonight, that high pressure gas line broke, 53 homes were he called it severely damaged, another 120 homes were damaged let's hear from him. >> our problem was is obviously a high pressure gas line we could not get close to